Tips for Artists

September 2 through October 27 Visit the Pacific Grove Art Center on Lighthouse Avenue to see fine works of art from members of the Monterey Bay Plein Air Painters Association (MBPAPA.) The exhibit will open on September 2 and run through October 27. The exhibit will be in the large … Read More

Half Moon Bay’s Coastal Art League will present paintings of the Santa Cruz Oil Painters (SCOP) in oil, acrylic, and pastel. In the fall of 2001, a small group of oil painters gathered to find a way to support each other in our artistic endeavors, and formed SCOP. Today the … Read More

  I’m excited to once again be offering painting classes, my first offerings in over two years. I’m offering a 5-class series in landscape painting this spring. Classes will be held in my Soquel studio on Thursday mornings 9-12 noon, April 14, 21, 28, May 12, 19. Series price is … Read More

Join an art group or club I often take paintings to my art group. As a group, we coordinate weekly plein air locations and meet up in the locations to paint. We also have monthly “critique sessions.” To these sessions, most of us bring one or more paintings. These are … Read More

Lay down values and color quickly Painting outdoors while gazing at the scene to be captured requires the painter to lay down values and color quickly before the light changes. Mixing three values, on site, of the main color fields can help you keep color clean and have piles to … Read More

I recently read my California Art Club Newsletter containing a tribute to Richard Schmid, who passed on earlier this year. He was a great artist who mentored many of today’s traditional painters. I watched him paint a portrait from life at one of the Plein Air conventions years ago. It … Read More

[Revised Jan, 2021] It is sometimes difficult to paint large paintings plein air. After all, when we set up our easels in the out of doors, factors like uneven ground, heaviness of large canvases and wind make the large painting effort problematic. Especially wind, which can come up at any … Read More

“If there is a common theme relating to the perception of color harmony, I believe that nature holds the key.” – Michael Wilcox I continue to explore what has been written about color harmony and find ideas to share with you here on my blog.  “ Perception of color harmony … Read More

I have recently been perusing a book on color theory. It’s called Perfect Color Choices for the Artist, written by Michael Wilcox. There are many different theories about color harmony, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It appears “perfect” is a relative term. One system that I … Read More

Preparing to paint plein air requires some forethought and action. I need to have canvas, easel, and all my brushes and tools packed up to carry with me. Once on location, I need to evaluate the scene from various angles, to determine just what I want to paint, and how … Read More

Recently I have been cleaning out my paint tube drawer where I keep tubes of oil paint ready to be put out on my palette. I have several tubes that will no longer accept their caps, so the paint dries out! Here’s a tip: I have used the tip of … Read More

Spattering is a term which means spraying small droplets of paint onto the canvas. Spatter techniques in oil paintings can be applied to create a sense of mist, fog, ocean spray, or random wildflowers. I first became familiar with the use of spatter years ago with watercolor paint and nowadays … Read More

When I harvested a black walnut tree in Massachusetts to have a memory of my childhood home, I had no idea of the adventure ahead. Now I have a stack of rough sawn boards here in Soquel. I decided to make some frames for my paintings, but little did I … Read More